Tài liệu Appendix G: Glossary ppt

Data analysis in information systems is based on statistical data, which is updated from the operative application to information structures.. Administrator Workbench Controls how data

Appendix G: Glossary G

Note: Terms related to the SAP Business Information Warehouse are indicated by the symbol

ABAP Advanced Business Application Programming ABAP is a fourth-generation

programming language developed by SAP for application development purposes

ABAP Query ABAP Workbench tool that allows users who have little or no knowledge of ABAP,

tables, or field names, to define and execute their own reports

To determine the structure of reports in ABAP Query, users enter text, then select fields and options Fields are selected from functional areas and can be sequenced numerically

There are three types of reports available:

< Basic lists

< Statistics

< Ranked lists You can also define a combination of these

To define a report, enter individual text, such as titles, then select the fields and options which determine the report layout The system generates each query in the form of an ABAP program

ABC analysis Procedure that determines the importance of an object An ABC analysis classifies

objects according to specific criteria or performance measures Each object is assigned one of the following three indicators:

< A: most important

< B: moderately important

< C: less important

An object can be material, a vendor, or a plant ABC analyses are used in areas such

as Materials Management, Plant Maintenance, Logistics Information System, and ABAP Query

Activate update In this IMG activity, you create settings for updating the information structures in

the Logistics Information System Data analysis in information systems is based on statistical data, which is updated from the operative application to information structures Updating is triggered by an event in a logistics application (e.g purchase order, sales order) An event is a point in time when information is created that needs to be recorded

The following settings determine updates:

< Period unit of the update: Time level on which statistical data is to be collected (daily, weekly, monthly, posting period)

< Type of updating: When the information structures are updated Here, you have the following options:

Synchronous update (V1 update)

ƒ Asynchronous update (V2 update)

ƒ No update, i.e the update is deactivated

Activation Turning on Business Information Warehouse (BW) objects BW objects such as

transfer rules and aggregates can be created so that they are initially inactive After activation, these objects are used by the system and can be transported

Administrator

Workbench Controls how data from source systems reaches the InfoCubes of the Business Information Warehouse The parts of the Administrator Workbench that are needed

for requesting and managing of data include: Source system, InfoSource, InfoCube, InfoObject, Scheduler, and Monitor

Aggregate Saves the dataset of an InfoCube in a summarized form The original fact table of the

InfoCube in an aggregate table no longer contains some of the characteristics that are summarized across attributes, characteristic values, or hierarchy levels

ALE Application Link Enabling ALE refers to the creation and operation of distributed

applications to guarantee a distributed, but integrated, R/3 installation This process involves business-controlled message exchange with consistent data across loosely linked SAP applications Application integration is achieved not via a central database, but via synchronous and asynchronous communication ALE consists of the three layers: Application services, distribution services, and communication services

Audit Information

System Customized program developed to cover many kinds of audits a company may be involved with (for example, tax, personnel, inventory, and so on) The AIS uses a

tree structure and can be downloaded from the Online Support Service (OSS)

Authorization

Profile Profile that gives users access to the system Composite profiles contain other profiles A composite profile assigns a user with all of the single and composite

profiles it contains

Background Job Processing that does not take place on screen You can process data in the

background while performing other functions in parallel

BAPI Business Application Programming Interface (also called Business API)

Base Tables Normalized data structures maintained in the target warehousing database Also

known as detail data

Basic Lists Original lists resulting from the execution of a report Modify basic lists by

navigating in the dataset and using a range of interactive processing functions to produce other list formats (e.g ranked lists)

Business Explorer

(BEx) The SAP Business Information Warehouse frontend reporting tool In the Business Explorer Analyzer (BEx Analyzer) you define queries based on a selected

characteristics and key figures (InfoObjects) or the predefined query templates of an InfoCube Analyze the selected InfoCube data by navigating in the query to generate different views of the data Save queries in workbooks that can be assigned to one or more channels Use the Business Explorer Browser (BEx Browser) to access

workbooks that are assigned to you in channels

BW SAP Business Information Warehouse, a data warehousing product

Calculated Key

Figure

Value found using formulas or calculation rules within a query Calculated key figures are not stored in database tables

CCMS Computing Center Management System Monitors, controls and configures the R/3

System The CCMS supports round-the-clock system administration functions from the R/3 System You can analyze and distribute the system load, as well as monitor the resource consumption of different system components

Channels Supply of workbooks of the Business Information Warehouse arranged according to

topic areas Using the channels of the Business Explorer, you access workbooks that are assigned to you

Characteristic Criterion (such as plant, material, company code, order, region, customer group)

used to select data Each characteristic has a number of characteristic values

Characteristics are also often referred to as "dimensions."

CO Controlling instrument that supports management's decision-making processes The

various phases of controlling (e.g., planning, monitoring, reporting, consulting, and informing) cover internal financial transactions within a company Controlling functions include: financial controlling, investment controlling, cost and profitability controlling for all business functions (procurement, production, sales, etc.)

Data Mart Decision support environment that addresses the common decision support needs

of a specific group within the organization (typically a department or geographic area) In BW, data marts can be created by queries on a specific aggregate

Data Mining Technique geared for the user who does not know exactly what he or she is

searching for but is looking for particular patterns or trends It is an automated or manual process of sifting through large amounts of data to produce data content correlation

Data Warehouse Database that contains summarized data from transactional data found in OLTP

systems, legacy systems, or other sources The data store is designed for efficient retrieval of data and decision support reporting Data is organized by subject area and is time dependent The data store contains figured quantities and dimensional data

Delta Update and

Full Update Two types of update operations A delta update refreshes only data changed since the last extraction A full update replaces all data

Synonyms: Delta Change and Full Refresh/Update

Denormalization Combining (and sometimes replicating) data to facilitate easy and effective access to

relational data For example, if an organization requires the customer name and address each time a query is processed against a customer, the data may be denormalized See also Normalization

Dimension < Business Definition: Combining evaluation groups (characteristics) that belong

together from a contents point of view, under one joint evaluation group If the dimension contains a characteristic whose value uniquely determines the values

of all other values from a business perspective, then the dimension is named after this characteristic The customer dimension could, for example, consist of the customer number, the customer group and the levels of the customer hierarchy The sales dimension could contain the characteristics sales person, sales group and sales office The time dimension could be produced from the characteristics day (in the form dd.mm.yyyy), week (in the form ww.yyyy), month (in the form mm.yyyy), year (in the form yyyy) and period (in the form ppp.yyyy)

< Star Schema Definition: Accompanies InfoCube definition Characteristics are

summarized into dimensions, in order to store them in a table of the star schema (dimension table) A grouping mentioned above, for example customer

dimension, can form the foundation The dimensions are connected to a key field

of the fact table with the help of a simple foreign key relationship From a technical point of view, a mapping takes the place of a couple of characteristic values to an abstract dimension key, to which the values in the fact table refer Characteristic values assigned to this key can be changed later, without reorganizating the fact table data For example, the table in the InfoCube, that includes some (but not necessarily all) characteristics from the customer dimension, is the customer dimension of the InfoCubes

< Implementation: The characteristics selected for an InfoCube are distributed to

InfoCube-specific dimensions when the InfoCube is created

Dimension Table Table in a star schema with a single part primary key (e.g., customer key, product

key, time key) See also Dimension and InfoCube

Drilldown List There are two types of lists in drilldown reporting: drilldown lists and detail lists

The drilldown list displays the selected key figures for a number of different report objects For example, you can drill down on customer 001 and product 0815 to display all regions

In basic reports, the characteristics always appear in the rows of the drilldown list, while the key figures appear in the columns In form reports, the characteristics also appear in the rows, but the column is structured according to the rows and columns defined in the form

Drilldown

Reporting Evaluates data of an application according to its characteristics and key figures Drilldown reporting allows you to generate simple data-driven lists (adhoc reports)

as well as complex formatted reports (using forms) Using hierarchies, variables, formulas, cells and key figures, you can generate reports that satisfy all user requests Available functions include database navigation and interactive list processing (sorting, ranked lists, ABC analyses, exceptions, etc.)

Drilldown reporting is also linked to SAP Graphics, SAP Mail and the XXL

Evaluation

Structures Evaluation structures form the interface to Report Writer, which is the underlying engine of the Report Painter Evaluation structures are made up of characteristics

and key figures You can use evaluation structures to help you define your own evaluation by using the pickup technique to choose the characteristics and key figures you require

An evaluation structure exists for each respective information structure in the standard R/3 System An information structure and its corresponding evaluation structure always have the same name Each time you define an information structure, a corresponding evaluation structure is generated Since an evaluation structure is generated for each information structure, it is very easy to evaluate the information structures using flexible analyses of the LIS

Executive

Information

Systems (EIS)

System used to collect and evaluate information from different areas of a business and its environment Information come from several areas including sales and distribution, and profit center accounting The backbone of the EIS is the drilldown reporting tool The information provides multiple levels of detail to meet the needs

of a variety of users

Extract Structure Located in the source system and deposited by the application (application

component) An extract structure always refers to one application The data goes from the database to the extract structure using an API (Application Programming Interface) An API can fill several extract structures In this structure, data from the applications is prepared for the InfoSource of the source system

Fact Table Located in the center of the star schema of an InfoCube The data contains all key

figures (also called “facts”) of the InfoCube and the key is formed by links to the dimensions of the InfoCube

FI Financial accounting application area

Field Catalogs Logical grouping of relevant fields from LIS applications All fields that refer to the

sales organization (distribution channel, sales district, product hierarchy, etc.) can be combined into one field catalog It is not necessary for the user to know whether these fields are used at document header, document item, or schedule line level

Flexible Analyses Part of the LIS, flexible analyses enable you to represent characteristics in

self-defined, multilevel hierarchies and bring together the corresponding key figures It

is also possible to combine key figures from different information structures in the same application With flexible analyses, you can easily create Report Writer reports for displaying data by using evaluation structures with the option of varying the layouts for these reports

GUI Graphical User Interface Allows users to exchange information with the computer

On the user interface, you can choose commands, start programs, display files, and perform other functions by selecting menu options, function keys or pushbuttons, or pointing to icons with the mouse

Hierarchical

Structure Structure arranged in successive levels, where the individual elements in the different levels are interdependent

There are different types of hierarchical structures used; for example, organizational structures, business event structures, and reporting structures

Hierarchical structures contain parent-child relationships This structure usually has multiple children aggregating up to one parent, for example, cost centers and profit centers can have parent-child relationships

IMG SAP’s online Implementation Guide

Info Set Contains key figures that bear some logical relation to each other For example, info

sets relate to specific functions or are required by a single user An info set can be single level or multilevel The members of a single level info set are key figures The members of a multilevel info set are one or more subordinate info sets—meaning that many different hierarchical levels are possible

InfoCatalog Tree-like structure in the Administrator Workbench that displays Business

Information Warehouse queries The various InfoCatalog trees contain SAP delivered workbooks that can be used by user groups, individual users, and as favorite queries (user favorites) The structure of the subtrees can be freely defined

by the administrator A user accesses InfoCatalog queries using the Business Explorer Browser

InfoCube Central data container for queries and evaluations InfoCubes contain two types of

data, namely key figures and characteristics

An InfoCube is a number of relational tables, put together according to the star schema: a large fact table in the center, surrounded by several dimension tables The fact table is set up in order to save all key figures on the lowest level of detail while the dimension tables are used to save the characteristics that are required both in reporting and in the evaluations of these key figures Dimension tables are independent of one another Only the fact table connects the dimensions with the key figures; therefore all of the data is stored multidimensionally in the InfoCubes

InfoObject Generic term in the Business Information Warehouse for characteristics and key

figures InfoObjects are used in InfoCubes when referring to structures relevant to the data request (extract structure, transfer structure and communication structure) InfoObjects can only be named once A distinction is made between time and unit characteristics Examples of characteristics include evaluation groups such as cost centers or product groups

Key figures are currency, quantity or number fields such as sales revenue, or number of employees Key figures usually refer to unit InfoObjects

InfoPackage Describes which data in an InfoSource should be requested from a source system so

that data can be precisely selected using selection parameters (for example, only controlling area 001 in period 10.1997) An InfoPackage can request transaction data, attributes, or hierarchies for master data

InfoPackage

Group InfoPackages that logically belong together are summarized in an InfoPackage group The InfoPackages of an InfoPackage group can be requested at the same

time

For example, an InfoPackage group could contain the following three InfoPackages:

< InfoPackage 1: Cost centers: Costs and allocations (transaction data)

< InfoPackage 2: Cost centers: Statistical key figures (transaction data)

< InfoPackage 3: Text on cost centers (text)

Information

Structure Structure in which data is collected in the Logistics Information System An information structure defines a group of fields It is used for the collection and

reduction of data from an operative application (for example, sales or purchasing) Data relating to events in the operative applications (such as purchase orders or sales orders) is updated periodically in the information structures Information structures form the basis for analyses and evaluations

An information structure consists of:

< Characteristics: Dimensions of your business for which you collect data (also the aggregation or subtotal levels Examples include sales organization, purchasing organization, plant, sold-to party, and vendor

< A period unit: Used for aggregating data stored in the information structure The period unit can be daily, weekly, monthly, or by fiscal period

< Key figures: Measure of the business data you are collecting Examples include invoiced sales value, PO order quantity, and goods receipt quantity

InfoSource The InfoSource represents a provider structure Data (that logically belongs together

from a business point of view) that can be transported from the source system into the SAP Business Information Warehouse, is grouped in one InfoSource Each InfoSource is assigned to one R/3 application component or one external system Transfer structures and communication structures are generated from the

InfoSource

Interactive

Reporting Screen-based evaluation technique You can create reports ranging from highly aggregated to very detailed forms by using menus In addition, you can access data

across applications

Key Figure A value which you can report on There are two types of key figures:

< The simplest form is a numerical value field stored in a database table This type

is called a basic key figure

< You can also calculate key figures within a report using formulas or rules for computing other values This type is called a calculated key figure

Legacy System Typically refers to a mainframe system that has been in place in an organization for

a significant period of time The term is also used to mean any computer system existing in an organization for any period of time, which is scheduled to be a source system for a Data Warehouse

Logistics

Information

Library

In the Logistics Information Library (LIL), all key figures available in the Logistics Information System (LIS) are systematically cataloged and organized in accordance with application-specific criteria

Logistics

Information

System

The Logistics Information System is made up of the following information systems:

< Sales Information System

< Purchasing Information System

< Inventory Controlling

< Shop Floor Information System

< Plant Maintenance Information System

< Quality Management Information System

< Warehouse Management Information System

< Retail Information System

< Service Management Information System The information systems in LIS can be used to plan, control, and monitor business events at different stages in the decision-making process They are flexible tools for collecting, aggregating and analyzing data from the operative applications The level

of detail in which information is displayed is freely definable Informative key figures enable you to continually control target criteria and react in time to exceptional situations Data can be analyzed using either standard analyses or flexible analyses Flexible planning, the Early Warning System, and the Logistics Information Library are also integrated in the information systems Tools are available in Customizing which enable you to create a self-defined information system and tailor it to specific requirements

Matchcode Comparison key Allows you to locate the key of a particular database record (e.g

the account number) by entering information contained in the record The system then displays a list of records matching the specifications

Meta Data Data about data Meta data describes the origin, history, and other aspects of the

data The information stored in the SAP Business Information Warehouse can be effectively used for reporting and analysis via the meta data There are two different classes of meta data: technical and business-oriented

Meta Data

Repository Contains the various classes of meta data Saving and presenting the data in this way results in a consistent and homogenous data model across all source systems

MOLAP Multi-Dimensional On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP)

NFS Network File System Allows files of another computer to be accessed and enables

communication between programs on different computers

Normalization of

data Process of reducing a complex data structure into its simplest, most stable structure In general, the process entails the removal of redundant attributes, keys, and

relationships from a conceptual data model

OLAP Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) software is used to analyze summarized

Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) data Allows multidimensional views and analysis of that data for decision support processes

OLTP Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) is used for operational data, for example,

data in the R/3 software

Open Information

Warehouse Unifies the various information systems of the R/3 System into a single system You can use the OIW to gain an overview of the various information units (“info

objects”) in the R/3 System and to combine particularly relevant information units into queries

The OIW obtains answers to queries without requiring you to understand the access paths involved in the R/3 System To use the OIW for data retrieval, you do not need any knowledge of the tables, programs, reports or information systems, etc., which are held in the system These structures only show up as meta data (i.e., data about data) in the OIW Catalog

Operational Data

Store An integrated database that contains a copy of extracted data from source systems

Primary Key Key field or group of fields which form the unique identification of a record (a line)

in a table

Query Template Components of a query (normally structures) that are saved for reuse in the

InfoCube

You define a query template if you wish to use certain selection criteria in various queries As a rule you define the structures as query templates Structures are freely definable evaluations that consist of combinations of characteristics and basic key figures (for example, as calculated or restricted key figures) of the InfoCubes A structure can, for example, be a plan / actual comparison or a contribution margin

RDBMS Relational Database Management System